Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1119b to... (weekly/alternating): One night, Rachel asks Puck to help her sneak into McKinley, which leads them down an unexpected road. - Very special story for a very special occasion, oh yes...
1. Slip Into The World Of

_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 53rd cycle. Now cycle 54!_

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_**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Siren Call, chapter 3._

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**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"  
Rachel/Puck**

**1. Slip Into the World Of…**

_**(A/N: This story is a wedding present for dearest mag721, who got married  
*gasp* ten days ago already! I wanted to do something very special for that occasion,  
so this is how this story came to be. This plot and many of its elements were requested  
by her, for her, so I ask that you keep that in mind as you (hopefully) read on.  
Come on, it'll be fun ;))**_

When she'd come to him with the request, he thought for sure that he must have heard wrong. He never could imagine Rachel Berry asking him, for all intents and purposes, to commit a crime. But she had shown up at his house one night, asking him to break into McKinley High with her. She wouldn't say why, which made him ready to shut the door in her face, so finally she had come clean. She explained how she had overslept and missed a deadline to hand in a paper, already something unusual for her. She wanted to get in to the school so she could slip it into the pile, like nothing had gone wrong.

"Isn't that cheating?" he asked. She tried not to break her stare, though he could see her conscience fighting against her.

"It's my own paper, so it's not like I copied it or had someone else do it under my name," she reasoned. "Look, if you don't want to do it, I'm sure I can figure out a way on my own," she got up and turned to leave.

"Rachel, wait…" he sighed, getting hold of her arm before she could get very far. She turned back to him. "If I can't stop you, then I should probably help make sure you don't land in jail or something. You wouldn't last the night."

"I'll… take that as a compliment?" she frowned.

"Let me just grab a couple things," he told her, heading out to the garage. When he returned, he had a bag slung over his shoulder. "Come on," he motioned for her to follow.

They had driven up one block away from the school, in case someone saw the car and decided to go check on the school. When they got out of the car, he put the bag on the hood and took off his jacket before holding it out to her. "What are you doing?" she asked. "I have a coat…"

"Yeah, a red one. They would have caught you in a second if I wasn't here," he told her. "Now take it off and put mine on." She tried not to look so annoyed before doing as he told her.

"Guess it's a good thing you changed your mind." She gave him her red coat and he tossed it in the back seat before shutting the door, turning to find her pulling her hair free from inside the jacket collar. "I'm swimming in this…" she pulled up the sleeves while he tried not to laugh.

"Got your paper?" he asked, and she patted at her bag. "Let's get this over with." He took her hand and pulled her toward the building. When he felt her resist this, he looked back to her. "I'm not letting you out of my sight. This is how mistakes happen, so we do this my way or I'm taking you home." As a response, she squeezed his hand. He sighed. "Alright, here we go."

They had gone up to a side door he knew to have a bad lock. He didn't want her thinking this would be easy, in case she'd come ringing at his door again for something like this, but if he did it right, which he intended to, then he could get them in and out of there, no problem. Maybe he could give her a scare while they were at it, discourage repeat offenses…

"I think I…" The lock clicked after he'd been working at it for a few seconds, and he heard Rachel gasp at his side. He put the tools back in his bag and opened the door. "After you," he stepped aside and she walked in, easing along at a snail's pace. "Are you trying to get us caught? Walk faster," he told her.

"Right, sorry…" she whispered and hurried up. He stuck behind her, following as she headed toward the teacher's office. When she got to the door, she stopped and turned to him. He made her step aside, once again crouching to work the lock. Once it was open, she took a few breaths and stepped in. He stayed in the hall and, when she had busied herself with locating the pile her paper was to be added to, he quietly backed away, easing down the hall. If he could just get her to be scared, then she wouldn't try anything like this again.

Rachel had sat in front of that desk a couple of times, though standing behind it was different. Not wanting to psych herself out, she reached to pull drawers open. The first was office supplies, but in the second she recognized the folder where her teacher would carry their assignments. Her hand trembled, but she pulled it out and opened it… There were the other papers. She let out a breath, pulling her own paper from her bag, picking a spot somewhere in the middle of the pile to stuff it in… It was done. She closed the folder, taking care to replace everything as she'd found it. She was just shutting the drawer when she heard a strange noise and she jumped with a squeak.

"Puck!" she whisper-screeched. He didn't answer, so she went out toward the hall. "Puck, what was… that…" She froze.

He had ended up going to his locker. He was getting hungry, and he was sure he had a half-eaten bag of chips in there, which was proven correct. He was munching away when he heard a scream… her scream. The chips hit the floor as he took off at a sprint back toward the office.

"Rachel?" he called, but she wasn't there, not in the hall or in the office. Now he regretted having left her. "Rachel?" he called again, louder. He could hear a noise, and when he turned there was a light from around the corner.

"Puck, help!" he finally heard her, and he dashed around the corner, toward the AV Club office. When he got in that corridor, that was when he saw… everything.

The light, like a big sucking void – that had been the noise – and Rachel… who was gripping on for dear life to another office door as the gaping light tried to pull her in. When she saw him, seeing her pleading eyes was all he needed. He leapt for her, which came off as a miscalculation, as it left him prey to the sucking force. His hand had found the flapping too-big sleeve of his jacket, but that made her let go, and as she slammed into him, they had no way to stop being pulled into the void.

X

Rachel felt like someone had hit her in the head with a frying pan. She didn't know just how it was that she was standing, but she was, or at least she was bent forward, holding her head.

"Are you okay?" a woman's voice asked, and she was startled.

"I think so, I…" It suddenly dawned on her that, beyond all the odd things that had happened in the last few minutes, she knew where she was supposed to be, and she also knew there was no woman. She pulled her head up, and then she saw the woman… and gasped.

"Brennan, sweetie, are you feeling alright?"

"I… What'd you c… I…" she looked around.

This place, it looked familiar, she was sure, and with the woman she saw there, her mind could only go one place, only it was impossible, because if she had to take a guess, it would have been that she was… in… that 'Bones' show.

"I think I need to sit."

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	2. Partners

_**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Elevations & Ramifications._

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**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**2. Partners**

The first recollection he had was the gentle sway of being in a swivel chair. His head was pounding like he'd had one too many the night before, and it took him a few seconds to remember…

"Rachel?" he blinked, still situating…

As his eyes opened and settled, it became very clear that they were not at McKinley High… or at least he wasn't, because he wasn't seeing Rachel anywhere. It looked like he was in some office, some… His eyes fell on the desk and he saw folders and other items, all identified as belonging to the FBI, and he panicked. Had they been caught breaking in to the school? Why would they call the FBI for that? Did they even have an office in Lima?

One thing was for certain, Rachel wasn't here. Were they interrogating her separately? Of course they would… She would crack like an egg, and he… He was wearing a suit. He looked down at himself, feeling the jacket… This was a good suit, and it made just about anything he'd ever worn feel like rags in comparison. It distracted him for a few seconds until…

"Agent Booth?" He looked up, startled, and he missed what the man standing at the door had just said. Well, man may have been a big word, the guy looked like he could almost be in high school still, but he wore a suit, too, so…

"We didn't do anything," Puck was quick to affirm, and the man-boy stared at him like he had something on his shirt.

"Who's we?" he asked, and when Puck didn't say anything, he stepped forward, holding out a file. Puck reached out a hesitant hand to take it. "I consulted with Briggs' psychiatrist. He says he'd been off his meds for two weeks the last time he saw him, but he didn't show any signs of… Are you listening to me?" the man-boy asked, and Puck, who had been staring around what he now saw was definitely an office, looked back to him.

"This is the FBI," he stated.

"Yes, yes it is," the man-boy stared at him now like he had bird crap on his forehead. "Did you fall? Hit your head? Bad night's sleep? You know, I…" There was a knock at the door, which made both of them turn.

"Agent Booth, Doctor Brennan is here to see you," the woman announced, and Puck looked to the man-boy, figuring this was him.

"Right, well if there's nothing else, I'll just…" he pointed to the door, making to get away.

"No, it's alright, I get it, I'll leave you two to talk," the man-boy indicated the file. "If there's anything else, you know where to reach me," he left the office, and Puck frowned, moving up to the desk, he put the file down, spotting the nameplate in front. He picked it up, and as he read the name on it, he heard a breath. He looked up and found himself face to face with…

"Rachel?" he tripped up, landing back in the swivel chair.

"Oh, good, I was right," she came in, shutting the door. Puck just looked at her, in her own share of fancy clothes. Not that what she usually wore wasn't nice, but this made her look different, official… also kind of hot, he had to say.

"What's going on?" he asked her, less tense now that it was just the two of them.

"I don't know, I don't know how we got here," she shook her head. "One minute we were at school and there was that… that thing, the light…"

"Yeah, what was that?" he asked.

"I have no idea. The next thing I knew I was in an office, and my head was hurting, but there was a woman there, and she asked if I was alright. It took me a few seconds to recognize where I was." She stared at him like she hoped he was seeing it, too. He just stared back at her, clueless. "I know how this is going to sound, but I think we're in a television show," she cringed as she said this.

"What do you mean 'in' a television show?" As a way to explain in no uncertain terms, she reached in her bag and pulled out a mirror, holding it up to his face. He paused, pointing at it.

"Hey, I know that guy, he used to be on that vampire show, he… I…" As he spoke he could only see that the face in the mirror was talking at the same as him, like it was him talking. "What the hell?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, we're in a television show," she sighed, putting the mirror away.

"The vampire show?" he asked.

"No, 'Bones,' you know?" Now it started to click in his head.

"I thought that guy looked familiar," he looked off to where the man-boy had gone. "My mom watches that show," he explained. "But how can we be here, that's… We're not dead, are we?" he paused.

"I don't think so, I mean this seems kind of an odd place to go."

"Maybe that's just what happens," he shrugged.

"No, I think this is just… where the light thing brought us," she stated, and he sat back, trying to process this. "When I realized where I was, who I was, and I saw you weren't there, I had a feeling this might have been who you'd become, so I took a cab and… here I am," she went on, and he looked to her.

"Guess it's a good thing you know the show then," he told her, and she nodded. "So what now? How do we get home?" he asked her. She sighed, bowing her head.

"I have no idea."

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	3. And Lovers

_**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Siren Call, chapter 10__._

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**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**3. And Lovers**

Neither of them was willing to leave that office. They were pretty sure if they did they would get locked up and made for what they were, which was not the two people whose lives they had taken over, apparently. After locking the door, they sat in a corner where they couldn't be seen. After a little while of sitting there, with no clue as to what they were supposed to do, Rachel had started to tell him what she could, most about the two people they had become, and the others they might come to interact with. Man-boy was apparently called Dr. Sweets, which had made Puck laugh. Rachel smacked his arm, getting him to be quiet again.

"We can't stay in here forever," he had to point out after a while.

"I know," she sighed, absently resting her head on his shoulder, which made him smile. "Oh, no, the baby!" she sat up suddenly.

"What baby?" he blinked, looking at her.

"In the show, they have a baby now… We have to make sure she's okay, she doesn't have parents now, or she does…" she looked to him.

"Hold on," he held up his hand. "Also, she's not real, and they're not real," he reminded her, and she smacked him. "Ow!"

"Did that feel real?" she frowned.

"Okay, point taken. So we just need to find a way to get out of here, and then… she can have her parents back. That means we have to get out from this corner," he stood, offering his hands to help her up. She stared at him, taking his hands and letting him pull her.

"How do you suppose we do that?"

"I don't know, play along, maybe?" he shrugged.

"You just want to shoot your gun," she accused. "I don't know anything about what she does, and I am not touching bones!" she whispered. He started thinking back about what he had vaguely heard man-b… Dr. Sweets say, and he looked back to the desk, moving to retrieve the file he had been given.

"No, but look, he gave me this," he gave her the file and she opened it, immediately jumping and snapping it back shut.

"Gross!"

"Don't you watch this show?"

"Well, sure, but it's one thing when they're fake props, but this is… What if it's real? I mean it's real to them," she explained.

"Is it like an episode? Maybe you've seen it and you know who the killer is." She looked to him, then the file, hesitating. "Want me to look?" he offered, and she nodded, giving him the file back. He looked inside, cringing for a moment before he was able to try and read and figure what the case was. "Okay so this guy… Mason Briggs. He was found in a car, as part of an art exhibit. Ring any bells?"

"No," she shook her head. "So maybe it's not an episode. What if we can't solve it?" she asked.

"I think they have a suspect though," he tapped her arm before showing her another part of the file. She read through it, and just sort of half-heartedly shrugged.

"Looks to me like the psychiatrist did it."

"Maybe he did," Puck nodded along, and she looked to him. "So we go out there, and if they ask you any kind of science questions, just deflect, or I'll try and distract them," he suggested.

"Are you sure about this?" she looked to him.

"You got a better idea?" he pointed out, and frowned, looking to herself and making sure she looked alright. "Come on, uh…"

"Dr. Brennan," she reminded him. "Although he tends to just call her Bones."

"Then come on, Bones," he guided her out of the office.

As far as taking to their personas, Puck was definitely rolling with it a lot better than she was for the moment. She was still terrified of getting asked anything, and now that she'd found Puck she wasn't about to stray far from him.

"Hey, Sweets!" Puck called after him when he spotted the guy, taking a quick look back to Rachel, who gave him the thumbs up.

"Yes?" he asked, hesitant.

"I need to talk to the psychiatrist."

"He just left," Sweets informed him.

"Why'd you let him go?" Puck frowned before looking to Rachel. "Let's go." She followed him, taking a moment to wave back to Sweets, who gave a puzzled wave back.

After a momentarily confused search, they had gotten to the parking lot and located Booth's car. Puck looked like he'd just hit the jackpot when he got behind the wheel. "What are you doing?" Rachel frowned at him. "What if the killer gets away while you're busy playing with the siren?" He hadn't even thought of the siren yet, but he sat up, turning the key in the ignition and pulling out of the lot.

"Got the address?" he asked, and she looked back in the file.

"Yeah, but we don't even know how to get there," she showed him.

"There has to be GPS in this thing," he looked around before finding it.

"I should have thought of that," she closed the file once he'd put in the address and they were on their way. "I'm still just a little freaked out," she admitted.

"You managed to find me, you pegged the psychiatrist for the killer…"

"I could be wrong," she cut in.

"What if you're not? You're better at this than you think you are," he told her, and it got a smile out of her. "While we're there though, you just be careful. I mean you saw what he did to that Briggs guy."

"Have you ever actually fired a gun?"

"Does paintball count?" he asked, and she groaned. "It'll be fine," he promised.

When they reached the address, which was to the psychiatrist's house, doubling as his office, they went up to the door and rang the bell. The man who answered frowned the moment he saw them. "Agent Booth, what are you doing here, I just came from…"

"We just have a few more questions, may we come in?" Puck asked. The man had a flare of hesitation in his eyes, but he allowed them through. As they were led into his living room, Puck followed the man, while Rachel just looked around at the room. "Mr. Winslow, you mentioned to Dr. Sweets you had studied art at…"

"P… I mean, Booth?" Rachel spoke up all of a sudden. "I think you need to see this."

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	4. Performers

___**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Secreted Away__._

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**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**4. Performers**

After Rachel had found the object matching the description of the murder weapon, in plain sight in the psychiatrist's living room, everything had happened pretty fast. Winslow had tried to run, but Puck was on him faster than he'd all but shouted out that he had him, and the man was restrained, cuffed. Rachel frowned, seeing how much Puck was getting into this, like it was all a game. But then he looked back to her as though to say 'what now?' and she sighed, pulling her hand into her sleeve before grabbing the supposed murder weapon.

"Well, get him in the car," she pointed to the door.

"Right…s… They'll read you your rights when they book you, dirtbag," Puck declared, looking back to Rachel, who rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you're under arrest, so move."

In the car, Rachel had found an evidence bag, allowing her to deposit the object she held cradled in her sleeve. Puck was pumped up from having caught and arrested a bad guy, and she could already envision him parading the guy through the station, letting everyone see what he'd achieved.

Only the moment they had pulled the car to a stop in the FBI parking lot, they started hearing a shrill noise. "What the hell is that?" Puck covered his ears. Rachel did the same, though looking in the rear view mirror she could see Winslow was unaffected.

"I don't know," she told Puck, shutting her eyes…

And then the noise had gone. Rachel let out a breath, and it was then that she realized that she was standing, even though she'd been sitting in the car a moment ago. She opened her eyes, and she jumped. She closed her eyes again, reopened them, but her sight was just as it had been the first time.

Everything was in black and white.

"Puck?" she called out, looking down at herself, to the room around her, a kitchen… By the dress and the décor she had to think it was something like the fifties. There was something familiar about this place, too, it… "No way…" she breathed, just as the door opened and a man walked in, one who definitely wasn't Puck. But she knew him, too.

"Oh, what are you shouting about now?" That was definitely him, that was… Fred… This was I Love Lucy… Only if he was there, and she was here, then… She picked up a knife on the counter, trying to see her reflection in it. "Ethel, what are you doing?" Fred asked just as she saw herself. She gasped, putting the knife back down.

"I… I thought there was something in my teeth," she responded with the first thing that came to mind. He frowned, then left the kitchen. As soon as he was gone, she let out a breath, leaning against the counter.

She had to think… If she was here, and Puck wasn't, then… With a look of outrage, she made her exit. She guessed her way along but finally, once again, she had located him, raising her fist to knock at the door only to have it open before her. There was Puck, and he pulled her inside before shutting the door.

"Is… Is she here?" Rachel asked him.

"Is who here, I don't even know where we are," he told her.

"Do you watch television at all?" she stared at him, but then, "Wait a second, you do know, I can see it," she pointed at his face.

"Okay, fine, I would watch it with my Nana and…" he shrugged. "Why did you say 'is she here,' aren't you…" He observed her, and then he chuckled. "You're Ethel…"

"I know!" she frowned. "Why do you get to be Ricky and I don't get to be Lucy?"

"Is that really what matters right now? We're in a show again," he pointed out.

"Right, I know, it's just… Okay, I'm sorry, let's think. There was that noise, and then I was here…"

"And I was here. I freaked out a bit because I couldn't see colors and I thought I hit my head or something. But then I saw myself in a mirror and…" he pointed to his face.

"So we… jumped…" she looked around.

"Looks that way. Is that just going to keep happening or…"

"How should I know? We solved the case, we brought the killer in…"

"… and we jumped," Puck finished for her, and she nodded. "So if we go along with it and finish something, we get to leave? Maybe it's like Quantum Leap…"

"And how did that end?" she asked him, and he clammed up. She sighed, just as the door opened and in walked…

"Lucy!" Puck exclaimed faster than she did, and Rachel stared at him before turning… For a moment it was hard for her to keep it together, seeing the woman there, in the flesh, just three steps away.

"Ethel, what are you doing here?" Lucy smiled at her, and she still couldn't talk, but then she'd moved to Puck, her 'husband,' and Rachel snapped out of it. "I tell you it is just freezing out there, feel my hands," she placed them in his hands, all the while sneaking a look to her friend, jerking her head ever so slightly to the door. Rachel paused, hoping she was misinterpreting the signal. She had inched her way through the door and it was there that she found a wrapped package. Now she understood. Lucy didn't want 'Ricky' to see it. So she picked it up and scurried right by, sneaking the package where Lucy's 'discreet' directions guided her, which was the kitchen. She had hidden the box as best she could before returning to the living room. She didn't know, if this had been Ricky, if he would have noticed, but then this was Puck, and if he saw them, he had never said a word.

They had almost hoped that this would be all it had taken to get them home, or at least on the next step to getting home, but then that really wouldn't have made sense. Only then as soon as Rachel had returned from the kitchen, the phone rang. There was a pause where no one moved, and it took Rachel staring at him for Puck to realize he should answer.

"Hello? Yes? Oh… Oh, well I… Uh… Sure, yes. Okay." When he hung up, both women were staring at him. "The act for tonight's show was snowed in, they won't make it. They want me at the club," he motioned toward the door.

'You can't go!' Rachel mouthed at him, shaking her head, behind Lucy's back. When she'd turned though, she had to hurry and try to look normal again. "Well, that's too bad," she covered.

"I should go," he moved to the door.

"Ricky, your coat!" Lucy called to him, and seeing him turn and go to find it, Rachel shook her head to herself, amused. As soon as he'd gone though, Lucy had turned. "Ethel, I have an idea." Rachel blinked, unsure how to respond other than to go along with it… what other choice did she have? She had a pretty good idea of how this would end up…

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)

_A/N: Okay so as you can guess this is where things start to get trickier ;)_  
_I'll tell you more later :D_


	5. Hunters

___**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: It Would Be Best__._

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**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**5. Hunters**

He knew Rachel didn't want to be left alone, and if it had been up to him he wouldn't have gone without her either, but whatever was happening so far they had seen that following along meant they moved forward. If that was the case, and if getting them both home meant they had to split up for a bit, then they would have to do it.

He wasn't sure how scared she was at this point, and maybe if this just kept happening he might start worrying more, but right now neither of them seemed to be in any real danger, and he was having fun... So he had gone to the club, as requested.

As they were telling him about the situation, he tried to think about what he should do, being that he was meant to be Ricky. He had watched the show enough times to recognize the patterns, but he also had to think about their journey in the Bones world, and about how he had Rachel, and...

"Lucy... Ethel... and Fred... What are you doing here," he had to make a conscious effort to name them all properly as he saw that they had come through the door. He gave Lucy the attention he would be expected to give.

"So did you find your replacement act yet?" she asked him.

"Everyone is either booked or out of town..." he reported what he had been told.

"So did you find your replacement act yet?" she repeated with a curve in her tone, and in catching Rachel's eye he understood.

"Oh, Fred, Ethel, if you don't mind," he smiled to them, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Lucy's crossed look.

"Well sure, if it'll help," Fred spoke up.

"Now, Ricky, I am think it might be a good idea if you had three people instead," Lucy had spoken, putting her smile back on as she nodded.

"You're right," he thought, then, "I will join you."

"Did I say three? Four, I meant four," Lucy laughed nervously.

"I think four would be perfect," Rachel piped in, nodding to Puck, who looked at her, unsure. Everything told him his was supposed to say no, but he would look to Rachel, and he looked convinced he should say yes.

"I..." Lucy was looking at him so pointedly he couldn't ignore her even when looking the other way. "Okay..."

"Okay?" Lucy's voice boomed with joy like she had never expected this.

"But... But just this once," he pointed his finger at her and she was already gone.

"Oh, sure, Ricky, whatever you say!"

X

He could still hear the drums when his head started to settle. The shrill sound of their imminent jump came just as the performance had ended, and then the next thing he knew... he was in a car. He groaned, reaching for the handle as he sat up. He got out of the car, rubbing at his eyes before opening them… and then he saw the car.

"Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this one…" he breathed, touching the hood. "Wait a second, I know this c…" he crouched to see his reflection in the side mirror. "Dean Winchester…" he blinked. Standing there, thinking to himself this one might be a bit more complicated than the last two, he had a sudden thought… Who would Rachel become in this one? What if she was…

"Hey, here…" He looked up, and he was handed a bag by – for the span of this jump, he guessed – his brother. Judging by his face, whoever Rachel had become, it wasn't him, and he had to keep himself from breathing a visible sigh of relief. As weird as this whole thing was, this would have taken the cake.

"Awesome, thanks…" he was becoming aware of how long it had been since he'd eaten, and he made quick work of the food he received. "So, uh, have you seen… a girl?" he asked, trying not to look too obvious.

"A girl?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, do you need me to draw you a picture?"

"She's in the bathroom, said she wasn't feeling well," Sam frowned, and Puck looked back to him. So she was in there… and still a girl… Now the question was which girl. He could run them off in his mind, but…

"Maybe I should go and make sure she's alright," he pointed back to the restaurant, just as the door opened and Rachel walked out. He looked at her, but he couldn't make out who she was supposed to be, and apparently neither could she, judging by the shrug she gave him when Sam had his back turned.

"Okay, Jo, now will you tell us what this is about?" Sam had spoken up then, and Puck looked back to Rachel, all but going 'oh!' as he now knew who he was dealing with. There was still a problem though. She was supposed to know where they were headed, when she didn't even know who she had become. She looked like she wanted to run and hide. Puck had to think fast, and he didn't have to worry about catching her eye; she was staring at him, begging for him to do something and help her. He nodded to her, mouthing the word 'yes.'

"Yes," she repeated. He pointed to her. "You…" Puck sighed, pointing to his eye. "Eye… I!" she understood. He breathed out, miming 'talking', then pointing to himself. "I tell him," she sounded this close to asking a question. "I'll tell him first," she reasserted herself. Sam looked back to Puck, who crumpled up the empty bag and shrugged, moving around the car.

"Don't worry, Sammy, I'll get this sorted out," he promised before tugging Rachel back into the restaurant. They sat in a booth, facing each other.

"Okay, tell me," she sighed.

"Supernatural," Puck nodded.

"Oh… Right. But I've never seen it…"

"It's okay, I have. I'll tell you what you need to know, but first give me your bag," he nodded to her, and she pulled the bag from over her shoulder, laying it on the table. He opened it, searching through the contents until… "This looks like something," he showed her a newspaper clipping, detailing an incident at a local house. On the back, someone – they had to guess the actual Jo – had scribbled the address. "If I had to put money on this, I'd say we're dealing with a ghost." She gasped, and he smirked. "Okay, so here's what you need to know…"

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	6. And Fighters

___**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: From the Ashes, chapter 6__._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**6. And Fighters**

When they came back out of the restaurant, Sam looked to Puck, silently wondering what that was about, he imagined. "It's alright, she's just shy," Puck gave as an excuse, which earned him a shove from Rachel. Under any other circumstances he might have been ticked off by that, but in this case it just might help to sell them as who they were meant to be. "Good news is I know where we're headed," he held up the newspaper clipping as he walked up to the car, reaching for the driver's side door until he remembered they were in yet another city he didn't know… wherever they were. "Actually, why don't you drive… I need to… digest," he patted his stomach, moving around to get in passenger side. After a moment or two, Rachel had gotten in the backseat and Sam took the wheel, and they were off.

He realized that, of all places, this might be the one where he wouldn't want to come off too odd or out of character. For all he knew, he might get the other hunter thinking that his brother had been possessed or something. As much as he was a watcher of the show, he didn't remember every last detail about the dos and don'ts of hunting ghosts and other entities. And that was only half the problem, because on top of that, for all the things he didn't retain, he did know that they were earlier on in the show's run. It had been a while since he'd seen those, but even then… He might get some things mixed up and give himself away. This could all be the end of the road, right here.

As prompted by Puck, Rachel had relayed the story from the newspaper, which they'd read through together back in the restaurant. A man had committed suicide, in his house, by hanging himself… right in the window, so everyone could see him. The police had been called, attempted to enter the house, but claimed they couldn't even approach it, that as soon as they set foot on the first step, such a great sense of dread filled them that they couldn't go any further. Others had tried, others had gotten as far as the top of the steps, but none had made it to the door. It had now been over a week, and the body remained.

"That can't be good for property value…" Puck commented, getting himself a kick in the back from Rachel, who whacked at his seat. "Hey, if you dent something, you're walking home, it's going to be a long one, so think about it," he pointed at her, and she raised her hands in 'surrender.' When she sat back, putting her hands in her pockets, she frowned.

"Know anything else about this guy?" Sam asked, and after the silence had stretched…

"Hey, Jo, I think he's talking to you," Puck spoke up, and she blinked.

"Sorry, I should have… said something…" In her pockets she had felt something, paper, and when she'd pulled it out she saw it was another piece of newspaper, or at least a print out of an older article. It talked about the ongoing search for a ten-year-old girl who had gone missing a year prior to the day the article had been published, which was already ten years gone. There was an address scribbled there, too, same street, and by the door number she would guess right across the street. They'd have a view right at the window where the body was hanging. Rachel had passed the sheet to Puck, who read it and felt his stomach churn. The girl in the photo was about his little sister's age.

"I think I can see where this is going… Little girl ghost… Pissed little girl ghost."

"He killed her, didn't he?" Rachel spoke up.

"They never found her body, how much do you want to bet we could find it if we searched his house. She's had ten years to make him pay… Apparently he finally had enough," he looked back to the first article, about the body in the window.

"He'll be in there, too," Sam nodded.

"It's their fight, they don't want anyone else getting in the way," Puck agreed.

When they'd arrived at the house, it was easy to tell which one it was. A makeshift wall had been erected to hide the window from sight, as close to it as they could get. Houses with a view on the 'infected' house all had their shutters and curtains drawn, no doubt for fear of accidentally glimpsing the body, or the house itself, despite the wall.

"I don't want to see," Rachel had pulled Puck back as Sam went on ahead. She looked spooked, and he could guess why she'd never seen the show.

"You don't have to go in," he insisted.

"Yes, I do," she told him, nodding firmly. "How are we going to get in though, if no one can go near?"

"My guess is it won't feel good, but we know what's really going on, and if we focus on getting the job done, then we can jump right out of here," he tried to get her motivated, which seemed to work.

"How do we do this?"

"A little salt, a little fire…" he shrugged.

"But she's just a little girl," Rachel begged.

"She hasn't been a little girl in a long time. She's been here so long, that's not who she is anymore," he explained as best as he knew. Just then, Sam came walking back their way, looking conflicted. "Seriously?" Puck frowned at him. "Are you seriously going to wuss out on me right now?"

"Well I don't see you walking up there," Sam turned on him.

"I was just preparing Jo here for what we're about to…"

"Who says I need preparing," she cut past them, stomping off toward the house. Puck watched her go, smirking to himself.

"Alright, you heard the lady," he tapped Sam on the shoulder before going after her.

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	7. Dreamers

___**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: The Christmas Tale of Marley the Elf, chapter 6__._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**7. Dreamers**

Rachel had been the first to get through the door, though as Puck had warned her, it had been hard to proceed, none more than when the smell of the corpse had hit them. There was no backing out now that they were inside though. Finding the little girl's body had been easier than anticipated. All they had to do was look at how the house had been treated in the time since the man had taken his last breath at the window. The path was practically laid out for them, and Rachel and Puck had watched as Sam had dealt with what needed to be done.

"What about… him…" Rachel had asked Puck, hand still pinched around her nose and mouth, and the thought of the dead body and the killer ghost didn't exactly leave his stomach at ease.

But once the girl's body had been dealt with, it was clear their battle wasn't over. Puck had told Rachel about the possibility of there being an object that would need to be dealt with as well before it could be all done with. She had been the one to find it, just as she had found the murder weapon in their first jump.

They had been in the house for over an hour, and when they'd walked out, or stumbled out really, it felt like they'd been walking around with their shoulders weighted down all this time. A thought came to Rachel and she looked to Puck. "Think we should ask him… he might know something about the light, how to get us home," she whispered to him.

But they hadn't gotten the chance. Because just before Puck could even try to formulate the question, they were hit with the familiar shrill noise, which told them this round was over.

X

It was the first time they would get to their senses and find one another right there, without having to search. After the whole mess that had been their departure from the world of Supernatural, they were kind of glad at that, but that moment went away as soon as they saw they weren't home yet, which meant they needed to figure out where they were at, so they could move on.

"Alright, come on, let's get started." They looked up when the girl spoke to them and, sharing a look, neither Puck nor Rachel had any clue who she was supposed to be. They weren't alone though. There were three people with them, the girl who had spoken to them, along with another girl and a guy. Not one of them looked familiar to either of them, which could be a disaster, but they had to wait and see.

"Yes, let's… let's do that," Rachel looked to Puck.

"We'll break it down first, and then we can figure out who does what," the other girl had suggested.

"Okay," the boy had said, handing out sheets from a stack he held. When Rachel got hers and she saw the heading, a squeak escaped her, which she covered by holding the sheet up before her face. Puck didn't know what that was about until he saw his own sheet, and he understood like her why none of the people there looked familiar. They were in a television show still, but unlike their previous adventures, this one was into a world that was not scripted… This was American Idol.

Suddenly, after being other people they did or didn't know for the past few hours, they were getting to touch base and play people that were a lot closer to home. They had no way of guessing what they were supposed to be like, and maybe it didn't matter. So they went along with what they knew, as Glee Club members, who had worked with a lot less before.

"Everyone will get their solo," Rachel spoke up, guessing they had to perform a proper knock-out number, to get them all through to the next round, and that meant letting all of them shine, even if her instincts might have told her to shine a bit brighter.

She would have expected to be more tired than this, they both did, especially as the hours wore on. If they combined everything they'd gone through so far, they had been up and about for what seemed a whole day. There was no way to really retain the passage of time without making a conscious effort of it.

The progress of their group number wasn't coming along as neatly as she would have hoped, and after a while they had all called a time out, needing to get their wits back. As the group had dispersed, she sighed and sat. After a moment, Puck had come and sat at her side. "We'll make it work," he promised her.

"No, I know," she insisted, but he could see she was distracted, and she could see that he could see, so she looked to him. "This is the fourth one," she reminded him.

"I know," he breathed out.

"How long is this going to go on? What if it really never stops?"

"It will."

"But what if it doesn't?" she wasn't convinced.

"They'll run out of shows eventually…"

"What if we can't succeed in one, and we don't move on?"

"Well so far they haven't been that hard, it's easy," he shrugged, taking her hands. "You don't need to worry about this one, I mean I don't see why you haven't auditioned for them before."

"Too young," she told him. "And if not to them, then to my dads."

"So this is your shot to go up there and impress them."

"It's not even me though, it's… whoever's face I have. It's not my voice."

"Whoever she is, she's made it this far… But I guess that's beside the point." He paused. "We can't give up. You've already done so much. You're stronger than this, I know you are," he told her, and she breathed out. "Now come on, if I hear Tyler complain one more time about switching solos with Avery, I'm going to lose it, so you go talk some sense into them."

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	8. Parents

___**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Uncover the Sun__._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**8. Parents**

**_a/n: Sorry for the delay, technical difficulties... Happy New Year!_  
**

The break had done them all some good, although none more than when Puck had gone up and given the other three a bit of a talking to. Somehow he would manage to both motivate them and somehow convince them that listening to her would be the best decision they'd make all day. Rachel had smiled, and soon they were back on track, building their number. As much as he had gotten most of the control to become hers, she had decided to change tactics and actually listen to suggestions from the others.

As they waited for their turn to go up, Puck could feel how nervous she was, and he leaned in. "You okay?" he whispered, and she turned to him.

"I don't know…" she admitted.

"Does your head still hurt from the ghost house?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"It's not like that… Just thinking about going up there."

"Are you kidding? This is like the easiest one so far for you."

"That's what I thought, too, but now I'm standing here like I'm actually auditioning, only I have no idea what I really sound like to them, and it's just… I don't want to be one of those groups that goes out there and they're a mess."

"We won't be," he promised. Looking in his eyes, it was hard to think otherwise: he believed. That was good enough for her.

X

They'd all moved ahead. They were just sort of caught in a group hug, the five of them, when Puck and Rachel felt the now all too familiar start of another jump. There was one moment where they really thought maybe this would be the one to take them home, but that was all it was, a moment. Deep down they already knew they were heading to another show.

Rachel had landed in a car this time, in the driver's seat, and for a second she had to make sure that she wasn't mid-drive. But when she opened her eyes, she saw she was parked in a driveway and she let out a breath. She looked down at herself, to the house ahead of her… She knew this place, she thought… She had caught a glimpse of herself in the rear view mirror, and when she saw the face, it finally dawned on her where she knew the house from… and she wasn't sure she was ready for it.

She got out of the car, taking a few deep breaths. This whole journey apparently featured an endless supply of energy, because she was not tired at all, and she momentarily thought about how practical that would be in the real world as she reached in her bag, searching for keys. She had to try a few before she found the one that fit the lock, allowing her to enter the house. The moment she'd gotten the door open, the sound of shouting voices caught her ears, coming from upstairs. Maybe she could still get away…

"Mom!" a girl's voice kept her from reopening the door and she turned around, looking up. Crap, what was her name again, she was the oldest one…

"What is it…" she dragged out the words until it came back to her and she almost shouted the girl's name, "… Haley?" Lucky for Rachel, the girl was too upset to pick up on anything odd going on.

"Mom, you can't let her go out like that, she's going to embarrass herself!"

"Don't you mean I'm going to embarrass you?" the second girl appeared at the top of the stairs… Alex, she knew her name was Alex…

"She, uh… she looks fine to me," Rachel shrugged, which apparently was not the answer either girl was looking for, and they huffed back into the room they had come from, where the yelling resumed. Rachel let out a breath. One quick getaway, she could do this…

"Mom, do we have any bird seeds?" she was stopped again, as the boy came in from the kitchen, carrying a box. This one was… Luke, yes, that was it.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "Do you need me to get you some?"

"That's okay, I'll find another way," he told her before walking off, and she swore she'd seen the box move in his hands and make a noise.

She had yet to see Puck… Was he the husband? She slowly started going through the house, hoping to find him, until the doorbell rang and she jumped, all but running toward the sound. "Please be Puck…" she breathed.

"Mom, Uncle Mitchell's here!" she heard Luke's voice before she got there. Luke had opened the door already, and there was Puck, holding the little girl in his arms. She paused, surprised, while Puck put girl down on her feet.

"Lily, go play with your cousin, alright?"

"Okay, Daddy," the girl told him before Luke took her hand and led her off.

"Come on, Lily, I've got something to show you…" he was saying, but Rachel was more focused on Puck, standing before her.

"No way…" she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Took me half an hour of talking to her and looking around the house to get enough information and guess where you might be," he revealed.

"Well, you made it," she congratulated him.

"I don't even know where we are," he told her.

"Modern Family," she helped him, and he looked lost for a moment, but then it all came together.

"Oh…"

"Yeah," she sighed. "It's kind of freaking me out," she admitted.

"Why?" he asked.

"How would you feel if you suddenly woke up and had three kids, one of which is more or less your age?" she muttered, aware that in a house like this, the walls had ears…

"Look, it doesn't matter, we just need to figure out what it is we have to do and then we'll be out of here…" he promised her, all of three seconds before there was a loud sort of crashing noise and they heard Luke cry out. "See?"

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	9. And Children

___**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Mothers Know__._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**9. And Children**

Rachel and Puck had followed the sounds of Luke's cries, which had also roused the girls from their argument upstairs. They came down, following after their mother and uncle, as far as they knew.

"I had nothing to do with it!" Alex promised.

"Feeling nervous, Alex?" Haley teased her.

"Hey, one thing at a time," Puck turned on them, and the girls looked startled. Rachel gave him a look, just as they were nearing the door heading into the yard. They could hear Lily now.

"Save him! Save him!" she was calling out, while Luke ran around the yard. It wasn't until they got outside that they saw the boy was chasing after a small bird half running and trying to fly off. He had given a sudden surge, and he had finally scooped up the bird.

"Got him!" he cried out. Rachel found the abandoned box and ran up to the boy.

"Get him in here, you could catch diseases."

"What if he bites me, maybe I'll grow wings," Luke put the bird in the box.

"What?" Rachel frowned.

"It worked for Spiderman," he shrugged.

"You won't get wings. The only thing you'll get is an infection." Looking back over her shoulder, she could see Puck had picked up the girl again. He had always been great with kids, no matter how unlikely it seemed. As far as little Lily was concerned, this was her father, and she only cared about that.

"I found him on my way home from the park. I think his wing is broken, but I can fix it."

"They have doctors for that, Luke," Rachel told him.

"I can do it. Felix already trusts me. Do we still have the plaster from my science project last year?"

"Luke, we are either taking… Felix… to the clinic, or he's going to die."

"Don't kill Felix!" Lily cried out.

"She's not going to kill him," Puck promised her, looking to the boy and waiting. He frowned, looking at the box.

"Fine, let's go to the clinic. Can I hold the box?"

X

Leaving the house had required for Rachel to once again play mother, making sure the two girls they left there would not tear each other apart when unsupervised. They had then gone, the two of them along with Luke and Lily, and they had found the animal clinic. Once they had convinced Luke to let the doctor examine the bird, their heads had been invaded by the now familiar tone that told them they were skipping off from this world into another. After the variety of shows they had landed in so far, they didn't know what to expect, but they were all but certain they weren't going home.

Puck knew from their previous jumps that the best thing to do after the noise went away was not to try and move so fast, to wait until his head stopped spinning before opening his eyes, or else it would spin even faster. So far, with his eyes closed, what he was able to gather of where they landed was that he was on a couch. As landings went, this was pretty much the best that he could hope for besides a bed.

There was music, something, he wasn't sure. He opened his eyes slowly, and he didn't know what had done it, but even before his vision had settled he knew where he was.

"No way…" he spoke to himself. They'd done reality before, so it wasn't unreasonable that it could happen, but even then this was different from Idol. Over there they had not been anyone that could be so easily recognized, but here… They'd have to be one of a very particular group. There was part of him that was absolutely curious to know which one he was, but then there was the other part of him that didn't see this one working out and just wanted to get out as soon as possible with Rachel somehow… He had to find her and soon, he…

He heard a scream and that sent him bolting immediately. He wasn't sure if anyone else was around, but if there were, then they would have heard her and come running as well, he guessed. So maybe it was just them… which was a good thing.

"Rachel?" he tried not to speak too loud.

"In here…" an uncertain voice emerged from through a closed door.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"No!" she responded immediately. "I'm not doing this one."

"Rachel…"

"I can't!"

"You faced off against some seriously messed up ghosts, you solved a murder, what's so bad about t…"

"I'm Snooki!" she cut him off. He didn't mean to laugh, and he tried his best to hide it. "Noah Puckerman you stop that right now!" It didn't take much to realign her with authority.

"Sorry…"

"I'm not doing it," she maintained.

"Look, I'm not exactly looking forward to it either, believe it or not. But if we don't do it, then we can't go home. You'll have to be her for the rest of your life."

"I'd like to see them try," she sounded like she wouldn't budge, and he wasn't liking the sound of it. "I'm just going to sit right here until they send us… home, or to another show, anything."

"Rachel… Can you at least let me come in?"

"It's not locked," she responded after a beat. He opened the door, let himself in and closed it again. When he locked it, she blinked. "What are you…"

"We've had each other's backs this whole time, I'm not about to drop you now." He stopped when he caught his reflection in a mirror, and he chuckled. "Figures I'd be him." He looked back to Rachel, who was staring at him like she didn't know if he was playing her so she'd come out and play it out or if he was actually sincere. "I'm not doing anything if you're not," he sat next to her. "So let's see how that goes." He crossed his arms before himself, and that was it, he wasn't backing down either. They were refusing.

"Thanks…" she told him, and he turned to smile at her. "Do you think it's…" She was interrupted by the onset of the high pitched noise in their heads.

"Looks like they're listening…" He closed his eyes and he waited.

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	10. Talkers

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**10. Talkers**

She hadn't believed it'd be possible, that they would actually refuse to go through the motions of this jump and that they would get to jump again without doing anything. But then they did. When she opened her eyes, she didn't want to move. She didn't want to look and find out who she was this time.

She could hear laughter, somewhere.

It sounded odd, detached, like it wasn't actually in the room. She only barely turned her head, and then she stopped. There was a television screen hanging from the wall, and on the screen there was Puck. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, searching for words. He also looked like he had no idea where he was or what he was supposed to do. To her it looked like… Oh, it was one of those late night talk shows, but which one?

Once she had established this much, her fears over what she'd find had faded. She still had to figure out her place in all of this though…

It was only now that she realized she'd been sitting on a chair, facing a mirror. She stood, taking a look around at the room she was in. The place was small but the instant impression she got was that comfort was the intent. And then she understood: she was a guest.

Instincts told her to just open the door and look outside; there was bound to be a sign to tell her who she was supposed to be.

She'd barely stepped out of the room though that a woman was coming to lead her down the hall, and she never saw the name posted there. Everything happened so fast, before she knew it she was stepping out on to the stage and the audience was applauding. Puck must have figured out whatever he had to say… which didn't help her in this case, seeing as she hadn't heard a thing. They had no time to stop or talk, not about what they were supposed to do in this scenario, or the fact that they'd been able to skip the previous show they'd been thrown into.

The sound of the applause had forced her to remember where she was, so she acted as best she could for the situation, still having no idea who she was supposed to be. She just smiled, moving toward Puck. He took her hand, kissed her on both cheeks and led her to take a seat. At this point she was too confused to even take cues from surroundings, and he was being no help either.

This was going to be the worst interview in the history of interviews… Maybe they were being penalized for having bailed out on the Jersey Shore… There was a sentence she never imagined herself thinking.

Whatever must have been going through Puck's mind at the moment, she had no idea, but he looked like he was regaining control of the situation. After having initially been so shocked and confused on that television screen, he was looking at her with a sort of ease. She doubted anyone but her could see the uncertainty underneath, letting her know he was making it up as he went along as much as she did. With that in mind, she knew she had to participate as much as he did. She had no idea who she was supposed to be, so she had to aim for modesty and a smile.

"Welcome," Puck told her, and she turned the smile to him.

"Thank you, thanks for having me," she bowed her head, resettling in the chair.

"Earlier, after you arrived, you came and you introduced yourself," he started, and she had to lock her face cautiously, unsure where he was going with this. Clearly there had been no earlier for them, not in this capacity.

"I did."

"And we got talking, you told me about an incident this morning with a neighbor?" She sat up, just barely. What neighbor? "The boy found a bird?" Luke…

"Yes, he did, the poor thing had a broken wing," she was back on track now. "He wanted to make him a cast, but we ended up driving to a clinic."

"Good that he had you there then," Puck nodded, and she knew as well as he did that the story wouldn't carry them through the time of the interview, not that it should. They had to find something else to talk about, which would have gone so much better if she actually knew who she was. He didn't seem to realize she had no idea, and she couldn't think of any way to telegraph that to him, not with a studio audience and cameras all aimed on them. He had to get her talking, he was the host… "Were you rescuing birds at his age?" he tried, and she had to let him lead her a little further.

"I did, once, I think," she took the volley and returned it to him.

"What about in school, any activities, sports, or…"

"I was in, uh… Glee Club," she tilted her head and he sat up.

"Really." If they couldn't talk about Glee Club for a few minutes, then what good were they? She had no idea if this person she was supposed to be had any sort of musical background, although it was a safe bet to think they might have. Whatever came of this, it wouldn't be too damning for any of them.

So they had talked about Glee Club, and she had pulled and rearranged an anecdote or two, changing names faster than he could keep up with, but then he wasn't supposed to know about these things yet, so it all worked out. Before they knew it, they were getting the cue to go to commercial. When they got the signal, they both let out a breath, looking to each other. Before either of them could say anything, a man had come up to them.

"Is everything alright here, you've completely deviated from topic and…"

They were hearing the high-pitched sound in their heads: they were jumping.

"And apparently that worked just fine," Puck told him before the world faded away. They would have to sort themselves out in the next one, if they actually managed to share a word in private this time.

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	11. Amantes

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**11. Amantes**

She woke up in a bed, for a few moments believing she was home. She was wrapped up in the warmth of the covers, and she let out a breath… which caught in her throat when she realized she felt the covers in direct contact with much too much skin to let her believe she was wearing anything. She opened one eye, which confirmed she was not home. She opened the other and lifted up the covers, peering below and now confirming that she was naked.

She gasped, gathering up the covers around herself and just shy of pulling it over her head. She was in a bedroom, sun streaming in from the window; it was morning, and her situation was only getting worse… she could hear the shower running in the next room, and the muffled sounds of a man's voice.

"Clothes, I need…" she was muttering to herself when the door to the bathroom opened and she froze. She had no idea where she was, and what if whoever came out of there wanted more of what had clearly happened before she was thrown into this character's place?

Her worries released, and her grip on the covers nearly did as well, but she got control of them again just in time. It was Puck. He was just as surprised to find her there, and he had the courtesy of averting his eyes. He wasn't exactly covered himself, with a towel wrapped around his waist. He'd been in the shower when they arrived, from what she gathered.

"_Sorry, this was the best I could do…"_ he checked the floor. _"Oh, here we go,"_ he spotted discarded men's clothes. She sat up, staring at him in confusion. He looked around. _"What?"_

"_Puck, why are you speaking Spanish?"_ she frowned. Now he looked lost.

"_Why are you speaking Spanish?"_ he asked.

"_Wait, am I doing it, too?"_ she pondered to herself.

"_I think we're both doing it. I should have paid more attention in class…"_

"_Sorry Mr. Schuester," _Rachel muttered to herself. _"We should get dressed,"_ she decided, looking over to find Puck was already picking up the clothes that would have to be his.

"_I'll go in there,"_ he pointed to the bathroom.

"_Thanks,"_ she breathed, waiting he had gone and the door was shut before she tempted getting up and getting dressed. _"No chance we can skip this one, right?"_ she wondered as she put on the clothes at her disposal. At the very least, from what she could see, the person she was impersonating had money. All the clothes were fine and expensive looking, just as the furniture in the large bedroom did. She had finished getting dressed, looking in the mirror in hopes of figuring out where they were, although it shouldn't be so complicated once they ruled out non-Spanish… _"Oh, maybe it's…"_

"_Rachel, are you done, can I come out of here? I think we're in one of those telenovelas,"_ she heard Puck's voice.

"_Oh, you can come out, I'm dressed."_ He walked out, wearing a suit that made him look than she'd expected. It took her a moment to get back on track. _"Do you think maybe we're in a telenovela?"_

"_I think we're on the right track, so that's good. Now how do we get out of here?"_

"_It would help if I understood you better. You're going so fast, and I don't know what that accent is, but I can't figure out half of what you're saying."_ The doorbell rang, and they paused. _"Is this your house or mine, or both?"_

"_You have a…" _he pointed to her hand. She looked down and saw the wedding ring.

"_It's beautiful," _she was taken by surprise. _"What about you?"_ He held up his ring hand: he wasn't wearing one. _"So we're not…"_ She gasped. _"Maybe we're having an affair," _she whispered.

"_In your own house,"_ he looked around. _"I don't know anything about this dude, but I don't think he lives here."_ The bell rang again. _"Go answer,"_ he indicated the door. She was nervous, but there was no way around it, and she didn't think they'd get busted out of this one the way they had at Jersey Shore.

"_Stay here,"_ she mimed, walking out.

The rest of the house was looking as grand as the bedroom, and if not for the bell ringing, she might have gotten distracted by the pictures she was seeing of herself and a man. She opened the door to find a man there. He spoke, but she could only understand so much. But then he paused, and the next words she got: her husband was dead.

"_I… I can't believe it,"_ she tried to play shock, moving to the nearest chair, taking the time where her back was turned to process the information. She was a rich woman whose husband was dead and whose lover was upstairs in her bedroom after a night together… Had she killed the husband, or had Puck done it? Something was telling her it would be revealed to have been her doing, his doing… or maybe both of them had plotted together? _"Who could have done this?"_

The man, who she assumed would be a detective, was questioning her, that much she could make out, but he was going too fast, and she didn't actually know the answers. So she used her one way out: she played overwhelmed. Eventually the detective had told her something she assumed meant he would let her compose herself and he would return later and he had left. As soon as he was gone, she had rushed back up the stairs, taking off the shoes to help her go faster.

"_Puck, I think we're murderers!"_ she got back into the room, nearly running into him; he'd been right behind the door.

"_Did we kill the guy?"_

"_What do we do?"_ she started pacing about. He had to walk after her to stop her.

"_Relax, we didn't actually kill the guy, and I don't think we're going to be here long enough to end up in jail. We've been through enough today, this is nothing."_

"_If you're trying to calm me down, how about slowing down so I can understand what you're saying!"_ she snapped, and he did the one thing that could come across correctly, putting his arms around her.

"_Okay, so if my guy and your girl did kill the husband, and they don't want to go to jail, they'd have to run, right?"_ he spoke slowly, trying to mime his way through. She looked uncertain.

"_Wouldn't be very dramatic,"_ she pointed out.

"_Oh, I think I got it. What if she killed him, but he ends up taking the fall."_ She stared at him. _"Didn't get that, did you?"_

"_What…"_

"_I go to jail… You visit?"_

"_Jail? No, but…"_

"_It's not real, it's fine,"_ he reminded her once again.

"_I don't want you to get hurt,"_ she didn't expect to be so emotional, but he returned to comfort her once more, and she calmed down.

"_We'll be out of here before you know it."_

TO BE CONTINUED (NEXT TUESDAY)


	12. Families

_A/N: As of next week (a gleekathon week that is, which runs from Thursday to Wednesday), there will be chapters on Fridays as well as Tuesdays, for the next three weeks/six chapters, and then there will be one on Friday, Sunday, and the final chapter on Tuesday, so nine chapters in total after this one :)_

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**12. Families**

They had been sprung from their telenovela world just as Puck had been put in the back of a police car and driven away, while Rachel stood in the driveway of the massive home. She had put on a good show of being distressed to see him go, all the while pretending that she'd had no part in the murder he was being arrested for. They could only know for certain that they'd done their job right when they heard the piercing sound that would carry them away.

Puck was awakened by something touching his face… prodding his face… He startled, but then he opened his eyes and found the implements of his poking were the index fingers of two small blonde boys, twins by the looks of it.

"What are you doing, Daddy?" one boy asked. He was on the ground.

"Oh, hey," he groaned, sitting up, just as a young girl walked into the room. When she saw him half on the ground, she paused.

"Uncle Jesse, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I… Wait, what did you c…" He actually looked at the girl's face, and he was startled to recognize her. Now he knew why the boys had looked vaguely familiar… He used to watch Full House when he was little. "Never mind," he got on his feet, breathing out. Where was Rachel? Was she Jesse's wife, or… He'd have to find her to find out. "You guys won't tell anyone about this, right?" he asked, picking up one of the boys and walking the other out by the hand. He'd have to find a way to tell them apart, get their names… One thing at a time.

They made their way down the stairs, and he was careful to try and hear out whether there were others in the house. Rachel would try and find him, too, if she was here at all…

They ended up in the living room, finding no one there still. Even into the kitchen, there was no sign of Rachel, or anyone else. He was starting to think maybe she wouldn't be…

"Hello?" he heard the voice come from back in the living room and he frowned. They'd only just been there. Michelle had gotten ahead of him, and that made the twin he'd been walking along dash after her.

"Well we should go, right?" he asked the twin in his arms. The boy nodded, so they went, and there they found who he saw as Rachel. The boy in his arms however had a different idea of it.

"Hi, DJ," he raised his hand. Rachel looked just as shocked to be there. She recognized the room, recognized the children. It took her words away for a beat.

"You just left two minutes ago," Michelle told her 'sister.'

"I did?" Rachel asked, blinked. "I did," she restated, nodding. "But then I realized I didn't… need to go after all," she announced.

"Michelle, why don't you take the boys to play in the yard," Puck put the boy down.

"Okay," the girl agreed, leading the boys off back through the kitchen. Puck and Rachel both stood there silently, waiting until the door swung shut and they heard the back door open and close. With the coast clear, Puck turned back to Rachel, who looked like she might squeal.

"Finally one I know again, I can't believe we're here!"

"Well don't get used to it, we still need to get home, remember?" he told her, though he still smiled to see her so happy suddenly.

"Of course I remember, it's just the last couple places we ended up, one was just too much and we got to skip it…"

"Yeah, how do you think that happened? Can we just skip any of them?" he looked around.

"I don't think so, maybe… maybe it's just one time, like a free pass."

"Great, and now we've used it. What if we end up somewhere worse?" he asked.

"I don't want to think about it," Rachel shook her head. "But between that, and then the talk show, I had no idea who I was supposed to be. And then the telenovela, with the Spanish, and the… nudity," she bowed her head for a moment."

"So this one is easier," he concluded.

"Yeah, should be," she breathed out.

"What are we supposed to do?" he wondered.

"I wish I knew. But there's you and me, and the twins, and Michelle…"

"Knowing the show, I'm guessing something will happen, maybe one of the kids will need to learn a lesson, or something will get lost or broken and need fixing, and then after the ups and down, there'll be some kind of heartwarming family moment…"

"Pretty much," Rachel agreed.

They stood in the living room, silent, like they were waiting on disaster to strike. Time stretched out, but there was nothing.

"Any minute now?" he asked her.

"I don't know, maybe. Maybe we should go check on the twins and…"

She was interrupted when the door opened, and in stormed Stephanie, stomping up the stairs. Moments later they heard a door shut upstairs. Puck pointed up.

"Yeah, okay," Rachel sighed and they moved to climb up to the second floor. The bedroom door was shut, as they expected to find. Rachel gave a knock, clearing her throat. "Steph? I-It's me, can I come in?"

"Fine," the girl's voice was heard. They opened the door and found her sat up on her bed, arms crossed before herself.

"Alright if I come in, too?" Puck asked.

"Yeah," Stephanie remained quiet.

"Everything alright?"

"What does it look like?" Stephanie frowned.

"Well can I help?"

TO BE CONTINUED (FRIDAY)


	13. Posers

_**This is a shift day. **There are two updates today._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**13. Posers**

Puck and Rachel, in the guise of the girl's uncle and sister respectively, sat with young Stephanie Tanner and listened to the cause of her problem, in this case a friend, two friends actually.

She'd had a crush on a boy from school, and her best friend had found out about it. It was meant to be a secret, but her friend had told someone in passing, and someone else had overheard, and before they knew it the boy had found out, and he had let Stephanie know he wasn't interested. Puck could see a look flash on Rachel's face which read as something like 'it never changes, does it?'

"I don't want to be mad at her, because it wasn't completely her fault. She didn't tell him, but she did tell someone. Can I just be angry at her about that?"

"You have every right to," Puck told her.

"I really did like him though," she turned this sadness toward her sister, and Rachel was more than willing to move forward and wrap her arms around her.

Eventually they'd convinced the girl to come back downstairs with them. Michelle and the twins were still in the backyard, and so they joined them. The twins were happy to see her, and they nearly bowled her over, holding on to her legs. Stephanie smiled and laughed and she went along with the game. Rachel stayed back with Puck by her side, and she couldn't help but reminisce.

"When I was little and I'd watch it, all I ever wanted was to have sisters, so I could be like them," she admitted, which gave him a smirk. "Also I guess I was confused at first, having my dads and all; I used to think Danny and Jesse were a couple," she kept her voice down, knowing with all these little ears around, the wrong words might ground them to the world, unable to move on and move on home.

"Yeah, I can see why you would," Puck nodded and she chuckled.

"It got cleared up eventually," she promised.

When they'd seen how the boys had moved on to pile driving Michelle, leaving Stephanie sat on the ground and watching them, Puck moved toward her, crouching down by her side.

"Anything we can do to help make you feel better?" he asked, and the blonde girl smiled.

"You're doing it," she nodded.

And she must have been right, because a moment later they were being transported.

X

She was beginning to develop a definite headache, after so many jumps already, and she wondered how many more she could endure. Maybe they could take things slow on this next one, then maybe she'd have time to recover before they went through the process all over again.

But then as her senses came back to her, she started to feel like there was something… missing. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt a chill, maybe telling her they had been transported into something terrifying.

"Please don't be the Walking Dead, please don't be the Walking Dead…" she whispered to herself.

But when she opened her eyes, she screeched. It was worse. She was in a bikini.

"What…" she looked around, trying to understand. But then she could see them. Other girls, several of them, all wearing different bikinis, like her. They were all so lean and tall, she felt like she was in the wrong place, absolutely in the wrong place, and could she please run and hide?

"Okay, you're next," a woman with a headset had come to her.

"Next?" her voice trembled.

"Yes, don't keep the others waiting, come on," she all but pulled her to her feet and nudged her along.

"Hold on, I don't understand what I…" She caught a glimpse of some of the equipment, and then she saw the logo, and she blanched.

_America's Next Top Model. _This couldn't be happening. Puck would love this one; she wanted to hide in a hole and never come out. She had a brief concern that he might show up in a bikini as well, but she wasn't seeing him so, with any luck, he would end up being the photographer, something like that.

He wasn't there. She wasn't seeing him at all, and there was a terrifying thought there that they might have been split up somehow.

She still had to get on with the photo shoot though, and if she'd learned anything about the jumps they had done so far, it was that success was vital. She had to somehow access her inner model and put her to work, no matter how awkward she felt. She had done enough preparation for the odd publicity shoot, maybe an eventual magazine spread, when she'd hit the big time, but this was fashion, completely different. So instead she had to stop and close her eyes and access whatever memories she had from watching previous seasons of the show.

Once she'd gotten past the initial fear of it, the shoot had not been so bad. She didn't know that she'd win for the week, but as long as she'd done well enough not to be eliminated then she was fine, right? Besides, two of the girls had done badly, much worse than her, so if she got eliminated ahead of them, she would cry injustice.

Finally she had been able to put on regular clothes again, and the girls packed up to drive back to the house, she imagined. Only they didn't. They made a stop.

They got out when they were told to, and it was a good thing she wasn't the only one showing confusion as to what was happening. This went away and, in her case, was replaced by momentary blinding terror as a door pulled open to reveal… a runway. The other girls began to cheer, a few of them chanting and beckoning for "Miss J! Miss J!"

And there was Puck.

TO BE CONTINUED (TUESDAY)


	14. And Stompers

_**This is a shift day. **There are two updates today._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**14. And Stompers**

He'd known she would be there, and that may have terrified him more than the load of would-be models who'd be standing there, because the fact was he wasn't sure he could pull this one off.

It wasn't for lack of familiarity with the show, though he would never admit to it. His sister would watch it every week, and on several occasions she had insisted on having him sit and watch with her. It wasn't a hard sell, an hour of scantily clad girls, but regardless he called it 'their little secret.'

Still when he had awakened he had initially been very confused. He didn't get where he was, but this was of a lesser concern to what he was wearing. He'd worn the odd uncomfortable costume for Glee Club, but he had an ability to override shame most times. No matter how ridiculous he might have looked, he owned to it, and then no one could tear into him about it. He was untouchable. The clothes he found himself in this time though could have tested that resolve, several times over. And they weren't even the worst thing about this situation. That prize would go to the shoes.

They were monstrous, a beast, and the thought that he might be expected to walk in them must have been the universe paying back for some idiocy he'd committed in his life. He hadn't known where he was yet, but there was something about the shoes that had begun to put the possibility in his mind. It wasn't until he'd peered outside the room he was in, with the shoes in his hands rather than on his feet, that he discovered he was in the reality-based world of _America's Next Top Model_. It didn't take long for him to connect the dots between the clothes and the shoes and understand who he was meant to be.

And then someone had come along to inform him about the 'surprise challenge' the contenders were to be given following their photo shoot, the prize for which would come into play 'at a critical stage in the next few weeks.' His attention had gone liquid as soon as he'd heard the word 'runway.' Of course, because what else would it be?

He took the news that they would pick him up in a couple of hours as his one and only tool. He'd have to use those hours to somehow tackle those shoes and learn to walk that catwalk like he'd done it for years. He'd have better luck showing them how to score a touchdown.

For something like fifteen minutes he'd sat there, staring at the shoes. Then finally his brain had ticked back into order. If anyone could take on a challenge, it was him. That was what he did, he found a way, all the time. This would not be the exception to the rule.

The first time he slipped the shoes on and tried to stand, he tripped and almost faceplanted. The second attempt had been initiated more cautiously. He could be agile, more than people might expect, he knew he could. Once he could at least stand, he would try walking.

He nearly twisted his ankle right off, though not on the first step. He'd managed to take two or three very uneasy steps, and he was starting to feel confident, thinking it wouldn't be as hard as he thought… And then came the twist. He'd injured it before, playing football, and the pain he felt now was not giving him confidence. He couldn't even walk yet, much less take on that runway with even a shred of what he'd need to be able to do. Now he had to try and walk through an injury.

He got back on his feet because of her, because he couldn't let Rachel down. He wanted to get back home as much as she did, though if the words were arranged properly, he'd say it was more like he wanted to get her back home as much as she wanted to be there. If he couldn't put in a performance as close as what was expected of him, then they might be stuck here. He could play through pain, he'd done it before.

He'd been forced to leave the room and use the hallway, having too little space to work with otherwise. He didn't want people seeing him, but he had to chance it. He had his motivation, his goal, and so he kept at it. Cautious steps grew more confident, although he could feel his ankle give complaint every so often. He didn't listen. Solid steps became rock hard, and he could gain a certain ease. He had to remember he was demonstrating a girl's walk, so again he'd sucked up his pride and he'd committed.

When the time had come to leave for the challenge, he was walking on those two beasts wrapped around his feet like they were part of him.

The moment Rachel had seen him, he could see her, shocked on one end, trying not to laugh on the other. What if he couldn't do this?

The girls' cheering had been nothing short of salvation to him. It lifted his spirits, told him to put his game face on and get to it. So long as he could go to the end and come back, and he didn't fall over the edge, then he'd have done his job. That was all he had to do and then he could sit back and watch the rest of them try their hand. They would all wipe the floor with him, he guessed.

He'd taken his march, all the while telling himself to forget his ankle, forget the girls watching, and just for the length of the walk, forget Rachel too. He couldn't be nervous, he had to be, well… fierce.

He couldn't remember the next part too well, and maybe all this walking was starting to flood him with too much pain to bear, but before he knew it the girls were parading before him, one by one. When Rachel's turn came, he could see under the mask of confidence she presented: she was scared to death.

"On with it," he clapped his hands together, enough to get her attention, and he bowed his head: you can do this.

And she did do it, she must have. The next moment they were feeling the jump coming on.

TO BE CONTINUED (FRIDAY)


	15. Foodies

_**This is a shift day. **There are two updates today._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**15. Foodies**

After they'd spent the majority of this previous jump on their own, finding themselves waking up in the same room was a blessing. Rachel had been the first to get her senses back, and when she spotted Puck sitting there, she could already tell something was off about him.

"Hey, I'm here," she went to take hold of his arm. "Are you alright?"

"I busted my ankle on those damn heels," he groaned, looking down.

"You did?" she was shocked. "Let me see, I couldn't even tell," she went to inspect the ankle.

"I can still walk, it just hurts like hell."

"We need to get you some ice, and…" He looked around the room.

"Rachel?" She turned to him and he pointed around. "I think you'll find some." She hadn't even bothered to stop and try to figure out where they were. When she did though, she saw they were in a kitchen. It was large, with several appliances, stations.

"Oh." She stood and went to one of the refrigerators to find ice. She had just closed her hand on the handle when the giant kitchen was invaded by a number of people in aprons and chef coats. She looked to Puck, but he was already on his feet, his face never showing the pain he was in. They'd been dropped into yet another world, and he was going to find out what that world was, the better to get them out of it and hopefully back home. "No chance they'll give us a pass for injury," she muttered to herself.

"Alright, contestants to your stations, please?" a girl with a headset called out. Rachel looked around; how were they supposed to know which stations were theirs? By the time she'd asked herself, everyone else except her and Puck had gotten to their places, in teams of two, which left one space for them. She breathed relief for the fact that this was one problem resolved, and also because she was getting to work with Puck.

"You can cook, right?" he muttered at her while the 'hosts,' the two in the chef coats, called out the instructions for the challenge.

"Mostly," she replied. "What can you make?" she asked and he smirked.

"Cupcakes?" She almost poked him in the side for that one. She was well aware of his 'contribution' to the bake sale a couple years back.

"Can you follow my lead then?"

"Now that I can do," he smiled, and she was distracted by his eyes until she heard the hosts tell them to 'go!'

"Wait, what are we supposed to do, I wasn't listening!" she whispered in a panic, looking around.

"Look, there's a box," he pointed to their station and opened it. She almost screeched. Inside the box, along with a selection of vegetables and seasonings and other ingredients, there was also a whole chicken.

"I can't," she shook her head. "I don't eat it, I don't know how to make it, and I'm not going to cut it in pieces!" She was working herself into a proper panic. He stopped her by taking hold of her hand.

"Hey, breathe. You're not alone. You've got me, so just do like you said and tell me what to do, I'll cut it. I've seen my mother do it before. Don't think of it as a chicken, think of it as the thing that could make the difference between being stuck here and getting to go home." She paused, taking a breath.

"Fine," she nodded, frowned for good measure, then breathed out again. "We should wash our hands, first."

She didn't really have much to tell them in the matter of taking the chicken apart, and she could see he looked unsure from time to time, but he was careful, not hasty. Looking at the clock, she could see they still had plenty of time.

"We could do a soup," he told her, putting his knife down.

"A soup?" she repeated.

"Yeah, with vegetables, and pasta, and chicken. I kind of remember my Nana's recipe, I watched her do it so many times, I just have to find the right things. With my luck, I'll end up poisoning the judges."

"No, you'll do fine," she decided, nodding. "These last few jumps, you've been amazing. I'm the one who's been useless."

"You're not useless. Never. Not here, not anywhere. Now let's make soup."

It was incredible how fast the time could get away from them as they worked, but they were getting along, and their soup was coming together. Rachel couldn't help but let her eyes move to the other stations, to see what the contestants on either side of her were making. It didn't look too complicated compared to the soup, which reassured her. After the panic, her competitive side had returned to the surface, and then they were in business.

The plates were readied, and Rachel put the finishing touches. "As long as we don't get eliminated that's good enough for us to get out of this place, right?" Puck asked her.

"Forget elimination, we're winning this thing," she looked at all the plates with a determined smile on her face. "How's your ankle?" she thought to ask.

"I'm trying not to think about it," he admitted. "If they could throw us into some kind of hospital show and make me lie down for a while, I wouldn't mind."

"Hopefully they'll listen," she looked up. It was hard to know where to address these pleas, but they'd gotten their wish once, so she had to think there was some force behind this.

Their team was the last to be called up for the tasting. Rachel took the lead in explaining their dish and making sure to highlight the concept of simplicity.

The judges had conferred for a minute before calling up the teams again. They would announce the winner of the challenge, who would get immunity from the next elimination challenge. Rachel grasped Puck's hand at her side, waiting to hear the names. It wouldn't be their names obviously, but they would still know it was them, so all the judges needed to do was to call them…

Before the woman had gotten to calling out those names though, the noise had invaded their heads: they were leaving, and they wouldn't get to find out who won. If not for the noise in her head, Rachel might have thrown a fit.

TO BE CONTINUED (TUESDAY)


	16. Investigators

_**This is a shift day. **There are two updates today._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**16. Investigators**

For the second time in as many jumps, they would awaken together. They were in a car, and it was night. Puck stretched and yawned.

"Was I sleeping? I mean, this guy, I think he was asleep before we got here."

"You were," Rachel revealed, and he looked at her. "I was awake, and I swear, I got this feeling like I was annoyed… at you."

"Does it help if I say you're looking kind of hot right now?" he sat up, checking his mouth to make sure he wasn't sleep drooling.

"I think it's the accessories. Check this out," she pulled back her jacket and he saw the gun and the badge clipped at her belt.

"Woah. Careful with that thing."

"Oh I'm not touching it unless I have to, because for all the training I've done, firearms were not part of my skillset. I could kill someone with that thing."

"With any luck it'll be a bad guy," he tried to joke, but she didn't look in a joking mood at all.

"Look at the badge again," she told him.

"N… NCIS?" he blinked before looking at her. "Oh, wait, you're the Israeli one, right? Right?"

"Ziva David," she nodded. "You watch it, too?"

"Sure," he smirked. "Wait, so that should make me…" he checked his pockets before finding confirmation that he had been put into the persona of… "Anthony DiNozzo. Now this is more like it."

"You know what WOULD be more like it? Being home!"

"Sorry," he bowed his head.

"No, I'm sorry, I think I'm still caught on this whole frustration and…"

"Hey, this may be crazy, but I think we're in a stake out or something," he took in the food wrappers lying around the inside of the car.

"And you were sleeping on the job?"

"What, you were watching, weren't you?" he pointed out.

"Okay, well you're awake now, so… what are we supposed to do? Catch someone? I don't even know what the case is about, or who we're supposed to be watching, what we're hoping to see…"

"It should be somewhere over there," he looked to the houses across the street.

"There has to be a file somewhere, some notes, something," she checked her pockets, the glove compartment, the seat next to her, the dashboard… "What about you?" she asked. He was too distracted. "Hey!" she smacked his arm and he startled. "Stay focused here, come on!"

"Right, I just thought I saw… Never mind." He looked in his pockets, finding a small notepad. "Good, let's see… I think this is the address," he showed her a page and she took the notebook from her.

"Yeah. There's a name, but that doesn't tell us much. Got anything else?"

"I don't think it's about the stake out," he cut in suddenly.

"What? Why?"

"Well, think about it. If it was about the case, the reason they're parked here, then we'd have some kind of info to work off of, wouldn't we? They've been tossing us left and right for hours, but they've never tossed us completely in the dark like this, so there has to be a reason."

"We talk about 'they' like we actually know there are people behind this," she sighed, looking around.

And then they heard it. Gunfire, not from across the street in front of them, but from somewhere behind them… Rachel was on edge, Puck was alert, and then they'd both seen someone dash out of a house and get into a car.

"Drive!" she yelled at Puck while she reached to find a phone. Dialling 911 while Puck veered the car around to give chase, she looked at the open door, then back to the notebook for the street name. "This is Special Agent Ziva David, NCIS," the words rolled off her tongue so fast she was surprised she hadn't tripped up. "Shots fired, send an ambulance," she gave the address. "We are in pursuit of the shooter, who fled the scene in a car." When she'd hung up, her heart was ramming against her ribcage, but what she was more surprised with was the look Puck gave her. "What?" she frowned.

"Nothing, you're just blowing my mind right now."

"Just… I… Keep driving, we can't lose him," she tried to keep her senses in order. "What about the guy we were supposed to watch? What if he gets away because of us?"

"Get back on the phone, call our… their people, tell them what's happening, they can send someone else to stake out the place, and maybe they'll send us back up."

"You mean people who actually know how to shoot guns?"

"Yeah, that," he agreed, making a sharp turn, which made Rachel squeal about as much as the tires did.

"Try not to kill us, please?" she called out.

"Make the call," he told her, focused on keeping the car in sight. When he'd turned on his siren, he already had so much adrenaline going because of all of this.

"Right, okay, Gibbs, Gibbs…" she searched the phone before finding it. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she breathed as she hit the name.

"Out of everything that's happening right now, talking to Mark Harmon is the thing that's giving you goose bumps?" he asked in disbelief, but she held up her finger to quiet him.

"Gibbs, we had leave the stake out, we're chasing a shooter from an unrelated incident on the street, so… Yes… Yes, of course, we… Alright, thank you," she hung up and took a breath.

"Is he coming?" Puck asked. Rachel shook her head.

"We're on our own. It's two trained special agents after one guy, not like I could tell him 'actually we're not Ziva and Tony, we're just a couple of high schoolers out of Lima, and we have no idea how to shoot guns, can you come and save us?' He would have locked us up for psych evaluations… if he didn't just shoot us."

"Well then I guess it's just you and me," he nodded ahead and she looked to find the guy had ditched his car and run into what looked like a building either under construction or under repair.

"We can't just go in there. Your foot is still hurt, this guy has got a gun, and we know he has no problem using it!"

"Well what else are we supposed to do?"

TO BE CONTINUED (FRIDAY)


	17. And Responders

_**This is a shift day. **There are two updates today._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**17. And Responders**

She had never been afraid for her life, not until they walked into that building, pursuing the shooter who had fled the scene of his crime. They were supposed to impersonate these federal agents who knew what they were doing. She had no idea what she was doing. They would run into that man and he would shoot her, she could see it.

"Hey," Puck had distracted her. "You can do this."

"What if I can't?" her eyes pooled with tears. He had pulled her into his arms to calm her, placed a reassuring kiss at her forehead. "I don't think we're supposed to do that," she'd sniffled and he breathed out.

"Maybe that's why we're here, to give those two a good shove in the right direction." It made her laugh.

"It'd be about time." He looked down at her.

"We'll get through this one together, okay?" he nodded, and she matched him.

"Okay."

"Now take out your gun." She froze. "You need to know how to hold it, just in case." She reached down, and he could see her hand shake as she pulled out the weapon. He stepped behind her, using his arms to shadow her into position. "Like this, not like this, got it? Aim, lead…"

"How do you know how to do this?"

"TV, movies, video games? Won't win any awards, but it'll have to do."

"Maybe we should wait for Gibbs…"

"Would they wait?" Puck pointed out. When they heard a noise coming from across the half-renovated floor, she squeaked, and he took out his own weapon.

"What do we do now?" she whispered. He pulled her to take cover, then he called out.

"NCIS! Come out with your hands up, toss down your gun!" The response came in the form of a shot being fired in their general direction. Rachel was scared, but she was trying to stay alert, which he had to applaud her for, knowing how she didn't want to come into the building.

"The building is surrounded, there's no way out!" she shouted, and he turned to her.

"What are you doing?" he whispered, stunned.

"The longer we wait, the more he'll know about us, no?" she explained. "We have to flush him out."

"Are you sure about this?" He knew what that meant, and so did she. Rachel nodded, and he didn't know what got into him, but he pulled her up and kissed her. "How's that for a shove in the right direction?" She smiled, and then they split up.

He had barely made it around to another corner when he heard the gun cock.

"How about you toss the gun?" It was a girl's voice. He turned around, one hand in the air. The girl had her gun pointed at him. "Now." He did as told. "Kick it over. "He did, and she picked it up, tucking it in the back of her pants.

"You're the shooter?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," she played coy. "Hands on your head, turn around." She pushed him forward. "Hey, if you don't want your boy to die, I suggest you show yourself now." Rachel inched forward, gun out as he'd showed her.

"Let him go. You think you're in trouble now, you have no idea." Her nerves had turned to fury.

"Big mouth there," the girl frowned.

"You have no idea," Puck kept his eyes on Rachel. She was trying to find a way to get him out of this. If she shot, all she'd get would be him. When she looked back at him, he saw… he wasn't sure what he saw.

But then she started to sing. It caught him off guard, but then he knew, if he was surprised, then the shooter…

He reached back, caught her arm and knocked her grip from the gun. It hit the ground, and he tackled the girl down.

"Get me some cuffs! That was excellent!"

X

The adrenaline rush of their previous adventure was all gone by the time they had awakened. For Puck it had meant a misstep, and his ankle flaring up more painful than ever, and he grabbed the first piece of furniture he could get his hands on. He looked around for Rachel, but she wasn't in the room… a room in black and white once again.

He looked up to see the door open from behind him, and then there she was. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Your ankle?" she asked, rushing to him to help him sit.

"I couldn't feel it before, too much was happening…"

"Look, you're sitting this one out, whatever it is, I'll handle it on my own." She started looking around, hoping to find something that would tell her where they were. So far, she had no idea.

"I'm fine, I can help…" he tried and failed to stand.

"Forget it, you'll only make it worse and…" she paused.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Mayberry…" she read.

"Relative of yours?" he joked and she turned with a frown.

"No. That's where we are. It's that… the show, I can't…" she closed her eyes, trying to remember. And then it hit her. "It's the Andy Griffith Show."

TO BE CONTINUED (TUESDAY)


	18. Townies

_**This is a shift day. **There are two updates today._

* * *

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**18. Townies**

Upon hearing the name of the show, Puck looked instantly confused. "Never heard of it," he admitted. "But you know it, right?"

"Not exactly. I've never actually seen it, I just know… stuff."

"Like what?" he asked as she came back to him, absently propping up his ankle and making him lie back.

"Like that it's called the Andy Griffith Show, and there's him, and he has a son called Opie, who was played by a young Ron Howard, and there's this other guy that was in Three's Company, too, and the theme song goes like this…" she whistled the tune. "I'm not even sure what the guy's name is but I think you're supposed to be him," she pointed at his clothes.

"Wouldn't he just be called Andy Griffith?" Puck looked lost.

"It was called the Cosby Show, but they were the Huxtables, so…" Rachel pointed out.

"Okay, well look for a bill, or something," he suggested, and she nodded, moving to find something that might have his name on it.

"I'll go check in there. If the kid comes by, just…"

"Well what's he like? My guy, I mean…"

"I don't know!" she blurted out, which made her stop. "Sorry, I didn't mean to shout, I… I'll just go look." She went into another room, searching for anything that might have…

"Aunt Bee? What are you doing?" She startled and looked up to find 'the kid' had walked in and now stood staring at her. She had no idea who that was supposed to be, or how she was meant to act, but if she didn't say something soon, he would start noticing something was off.

"Oh, just cleaning around," she made as though she was tidying up, then turned back to him. "What's u… I mean… What can I help you with, Opie?"

"Nothing. I was going to ask…" he started moving toward the living room, and she moved to intercept.

"Your father has had a long day, he's resting now. But I can help you, with anything you might need." The boy hesitated, but finally he gestured for her to follow him. He led her up to his room, where he crouched by his bed and pulled a box out. As he lifted it, she could hear objects colliding with one another, almost like glass or porcelain. He placed the box on his bed, pulled it open and then stood back. Rachel went to look inside and found what looked like the pieces of a broken vase.

"I didn't mean for it to happen, and I said I'd try to fix it or I'd have to buy a new one." Rachel smiled to herself; it was a good thing she'd taken this task on.

"Keep your money, Opie. We can fix this," she promised him. "Now go on and find some glue, you know the kind?" She barely had to ask the question and he was gone.

Sitting at a table together, they had begun to sort through the pieces. She was well aware that they were not meant to be in actual black and white and gray, that there were colors, and the boy would see them. But for her part and Puck's, they were seeing this world as one might through their screens: in black and white and gray. The pieces of the vase had some detailing on them, she could see, and if not for the natural shape of it she could have easily mixed things up.

With Opie's assistance, the vase had begun to take its shape, taking the time and care to let the pieces set. When the last piece went into place, the boy inspected their handiwork with a fine eye.

"What do you think?" she asked him.

"It's as if the lines don't exist," he was stunned.

"Just let it sit overnight, and tomorrow you can return it. I'm going to go look in on your father now."

As she went down to find Puck, she wondered why they hadn't jumped yet. Did she have to wait for Opie to have returned the vase, or was there something else?

She found Puck asleep on the couch, and she smiled to herself, coming up to sit by him. They weren't exhausted, no matter what they did, but with his ankle he had been exerting himself beyond his abilities. Maybe that was why they hadn't gone. Whoever 'they' were, they were giving him a chance to rest. It couldn't be for too long, she realized, not if they wanted to get home eventually. Sitting there with him, her mind went back to their previous world, to that kiss… Had it just been the heat of the moment or…

"Hey…" She looked and found he was waking up. He was smiling, and she had to smile back. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's…"

The noise came; they were moving forward. She reached and took his hand.

X

They awoke to the sound of a ringing phone. It repeated for a few more turns and eventually stopped. He had been standing at a door while she sat hunched forward at a desk, her head rested on folded arms. They saw each other, nodded – they were okay – and then they looked around.

"Looks like an office," she decided.

"With some serious hardware," he looked at the computers, all of it. "I've seen this place before," it was bugging him that he couldn't figure it out.

"Do you think you watched it before or… Maybe it's not on TV anymore."

"No, I know, but… Damn it, I know this…"

The phone rang again, and he turned to look at it… and he laughed at himself.

"What?" she asked.

"I know that ringtone," he pointed to the phone.

"You do?"

"What does your screen say?" he asked, and she looked.

"CTU?"

"Counter Terrorist Unit," he translated.

"Oh!" she pointed at him, like she'd just figured out the answer at a quiz show. "24, that's 24!" Her excitement immediately went away. "We're not going to have to spend a whole day here, are we?"

"With the kind of mess they go through in all that time, I hope not," he breathed. The phone had stopped ringing, unanswered again, so when it began, he nodded to it. "Maybe we better answer it this time."

TO BE CONTINUED (FRIDAY)


	19. Defenders

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**19. Defenders**

The phone was still ringing, as Rachel reached into her pockets, looking for any sort of ID. "Rachel, the phone…" Puck pointed.

"I know, I'll get it, but what do you think will happen to us in this place if I can't say who I'm supposed to be?" she explained, and he blinked.

"Oh… good point," he started doing the same. When she found what she was looking for, she picked up the phone.

"Yes?" Her face blanched. "We'll be right there," she hung up.

"Tony Almeida," Puck found his ID. "I guess I can deal with not being Jack Bauer. That dude gets put through the…" He turned to Rachel, noticing she'd gone silent. "Wait, you're Michelle then, right?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, then just as evenly, "Who's she?" He nodded to her hand and she looked down, spotting a wedding ring. "To you?" He nodded again. "My second Tony… There's a joke in there somewhere." Now he was worried.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and she looked back down to the phone.

"Oh, they need us out there, something about a dignitary's daughter going missing."

"A kid?" Puck asked, instantly on alert.

They had left the office, and Puck directed Rachel toward the room where they'd be gathering. The information was still coming in, but from what they were told, the missing girl was seven years old and was believed to be in great danger. With the kinds of enemies her father had gotten himself over the years, it wasn't unlikely the girl might be executed to make a point.

"This has to be a filler plot point or something," Puck commented as they left the briefing.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Just something that happens at one point, it'll look random, but then it'll probably tie back in to the bigger story."

"How do you know?"

"I'm just making a guess, but Jack's not here, so…"

"What about us? We're… well, married."

"Has to be between season two and three. Or maybe three and four… I can't remember, but it's definitely one of those, because after…"

"After?" she asked, and he looked at her.

"Never mind, it's not important now. We have to find that kid."

"Or we don't get to go home?" she added.

"Or she doesn't get to go home," he corrected, and she let out a breath. He was right. Even if this was all pretend, as long as they were there it was very real, and making sure that girl was safe was more important than them getting home.

"We'll find her," she promised, and he bowed his head.

The next few hours had not been their easiest. They couldn't do much more than go along with the flow and use the information that they could access. There was more, but getting their computers work involved a few hiccups, and they couldn't call for help.

Eventually a few leads had come in, and they had both been sent out to follow two of those leads, separately. The GPS had been a lifesaver, and Rachel soon found the man she was meant to tail. She wasn't nearly as afraid as she thought she might be, which in the present situation would be a good thing. She knew if the man did catch on to his being followed and spot her, then she might not be nearly as brave as she was at the moment, but if she stayed the course and made sure not to be seen, then everything would go right… she hoped.

She followed the man into a residential neighborhood, and when she saw him pull into a driveway, she drove past, to hide her car and make an approach.

It was only as she came around that she saw someone move by. Instincts kicking in, she rushed up and tackled him, only to find… "Puck?"

"Get off me," he grunted and she gasped, moving out of the way.

"Are you okay?"

"My back," he winced, trying to stand. "If we don't get sent home soon, I'll be in a body cast by the time we're done," he complained. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

"I followed my guy," she whispered.

"I followed mine, too, he's here."

"So's mine!" They paused and looked at each other. "They're in it together!"

"Then the kid has to be here," Puck added.

"We should call it in, call for backup."

"Right," he didn't argue with her on this.

"Do we need to get her out of this ourselves?" she wondered. He paused, waited.

"We're not leaving yet, so I'm guessing yes. Now how do we get her out?" He looked at the house. "How many of them do you think there are?"

"They wouldn't leave her alone, right? Then there has to be at least one more in there."

"Three, we could take them," he nodded.

"Take… Wait, what are you saying?" she asked, sensing trouble.

"I'm saying let's go in there, bust the door in, guns out, shoot them if we have to."

"Okay, I think you hit your head, when I tackled you," she frowned. "Unless you're trying to get us killed, then I'm sure that plan will work fine. There are other ways to be a hero, you know?" She thought for a moment, then smiled.

"Oh, what's that look?" he pointed to her face.

"Wait here," she told him, skulking back toward her car.

"Rach… Rachel!" he called after her, keeping his voice down, but she was already gone, forcing him to wait. When he saw her coming back, she was holding something he couldn't make out until she was closer, and then his eyes went wide. "Is that a…"

"Stay close to the ground," she told him, pulling away, tugging at something on the can and throwing it. The window shattered, and then a moment later smoke billowed out.

"You scare me sometimes," he looked back to her.

"You go and take care of whoever comes out, I'll get the girl." Once again she had not left him a chance to argue, so he went to the front of the house, ready to intercept. When the men came out, he had his gun pointed at them. Luckily, they didn't put up much of a fight, putting their hands up and getting on their knees. Once Rachel got the girl, they'd be good to…

The sound was muffled, but he knew it was definitely what he thought it was: gunfire, from inside the house. "Rachel?" he shouted, taking a step toward the house, just as the other noise filled his head, the one that meant they were moving. "No, wait, Ra…"

TO BE CONTINUED (SUNDAY)


	20. Newlyweds

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**20. Newlyweds**

If he was in pain, and he knew he was supposed to be, he didn't feel it. He felt the dizzying disorientation he did every time he woke up in another world, but that was it. As soon as his senses had started coming back to him, his memories did as well, and he remembered the last moments, right before they had been transported out of the world of 24. He'd been outside, dealing with kidnappers, not so bright ones, from what he saw, and she'd been inside, to get the girl out. And he'd heard gunshots. Had she been doing the shooting, or was it aimed at her? Before he'd been able to go and find out, they had been transported, and now here he was, and she wasn't there.

"Rachel?" he called out, looking around. He didn't give a damn if anyone heard him at this point. He needed to know she was okay, that he hadn't gone and gotten her hurt, or…

"Sir, please come and sit with the other gentlemen while you wait to return to the stage," a short woman came up to him. Her clothes, hair, and makeup all screamed seventies.

"I have to find…"

"It'll only be a few minutes, go on ahead," the woman would not have him, and so he was forced to go where she made him go. He found himself in a room with three men, all of them waiting. There was no way around it. His heart was going a hundred miles a minute, but he was having to remember the clause of 'do what you have to do and you get to move on.' For all he knew, she could be fine and he would be overthinking things.

After the longest minutes of his life, he and the other men were walked off to what he finally learned was the stage of the Newlywed Game. And there was Rachel, sitting in one of the booths. Her eyes found him the same time his found her. He barely had time to sit, had no time to ask her a single word before the insistent woman was back again, telling them what they had to do. Rachel had a stack of blue cards in her lap. Before they knew it, the game was in action.

Looking at her, she looked fine, unharmed. He told himself this, over and over, hoping it would help his nerves to unwind. He was so focused on her that it took him a moment to realize the host was speaking to him. Finally he looked over to the man, who gave a playful smile.

"Still smitten with his bride," he commented. Puck tried a smile and a nod. "I'll repeat the question. We asked your wife to rate your morning breath. Did she answer 'just fine,' 'so-so,' or 'atrocious.'" He didn't know what to say, freezing for a moment. She smiled at him, trying to encourage him, although she looked just as nervous. Was she afraid they wouldn't get to move on if they didn't get these right?

"Well… I'll be the first to admit it's not that great…" he had to go with honesty. Maybe she would have it figured out. "Atrocious, I guess," he answered, and he caught a distinct sigh of relief at his side as he looked and saw Rachel's card – it was a match.

They looked to each other, and he only just remembered from seeing the show here and there that a correct answer meant a kiss a second before Rachel leaned in and planted one on him.

She let out a soft sound as she did, and for a moment he thought it was good, but it sounded more like pain. When they pulled back, he met her eye again, and that's when he understood: she was hurt. He couldn't say how much, but stretching out to him had been enough to cause her pain. Concern flashed over his eyes, but she shook her head: don't do anything, we have to finish this. So he took a breath, and he waited for their turn to come again. The next question had come along: Who is better at handling money?

"That's… debatable, but I can be kind of out of control with some… I'll say her."

Rachel had said the same. With the applause, he had decided to lean himself, so she wouldn't have to. His back was hurting, but he could deal with it. She breathed out when he pulled away. They'd been going through the motions, but now it was as though they were realizing they had kissed… again. As much as it was part of their 'game,' this was Rachel, not any other girl.

He had no idea how many questions there would be. From what he saw, they were in the second part of the game, because there were already points on the board when he showed up. Was this it, did they have another round? He needed to get her out of there as soon as possible, but he couldn't rush it; the whole thing was out of his hands.

The next question had been asked. "How many boyfriends did your wife have before you?" Puck sat up at this. If she'd answered truthfully… There'd been Finn… Jesse… Did he count in this? They had sort of dated, very briefly, but… No, he wouldn't count, so was that it? He couldn't see there being any others. He said two, trying to stretch the word enough so he could sneak a look at her and if he needed to up into 'three' she might let him know. She didn't, so he said two. He got applause again, and when he leaned to kiss her, he only realized he was smiling when she smiled back.

They had started to gain up confidence. He was feeling it, and he could see it on her face, too. He really didn't want to mess it up. They had missed the next question, but they both had the same attitude about it: it was their only mistake so far, and the other couples had missed some, too. It wasn't a big deal. The question after their miss had earned them another kiss, as had the one after. If not for the other things at stake, they could have lost themselves into the game, but he wasn't forgetting that she was hurt, and she wasn't going to forget it either.

It had caught them completely by surprise then to find out that they'd won. He looked at her, reaching to put his arms around her. She did the same, only as his hand landed on her side, she trembled. He looked down, and he saw his hand: there was blood. Their eyes were locked when they heard the shrill sound, and with his free hand he grasped hers. She squeezed, and they closed their eyes. He needed to get her home. He would get her home.

TO BE CONCLUDED (TUESDAY)


	21. And Stepping Out Again

**"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"**

**21. And Stepping Out Again**

She was still in his arms when he opened his eyes after the jump, and he let out a breath. "You're bleeding," he tried to see her side.

"I-It's not a lot," she shook her head, lifting up the hem of her shirt so she could see, too. "There was another guy down there," she revealed. "I… I shot him," her voice showed her fear. "Not dead, just… The girl was there, and he was going to…"

"It's okay, you did the right thing."

"But he had a gun, too, and I sort of ducked in front of the girl," she went on.

"I think it's just a graze or something," he assessed. "We should still find a way to bandage you up," he looked back up to her. "You're okay, right?" He didn't like the fear in his own voice, but he couldn't help it; the thought of there being something wrong with her did that to him. Rachel had a sort of far off look. "Hey, you're not going to pass out, are you?"

"Bandages, right?" she asked him. "They have those in the nurse's office…"

"Yeah, but…" She had a tearful sort of smile on her face, and that was when he saw it.

They were sitting on the ground, in the halls of McKinley High.

"We're back?" he turned to her, and she nodded. "We're back…" he moved to hug her, then thought better of it when he remembered her injury. "Sorry, I… Okay, come on, let's go get patched up. I know how to do this part," he stood and pulled her up and into his arms.

"I can walk, you're hurt, too," she insisted.

"Tell that to your side, now quit arguing, we're getting you fixed up."

He had carried her to the nurse's office, not protesting even though he was quietly bearing the pain in his back and his ankle. As light as she was, the strain was not helping. But they reached the office, and he got the door to open. Rachel was let down to sit on one of the beds while he got to finding what he needed. She looked at the wall and breathed.

"Five minutes."

"What?" he asked, distracted.

"That's how long we've been gone," she pointed to the wall.

"No way," he blinked. "Doesn't feel that way."

"I know. I think it's all starting to catch up to me," she rubbed at her tired eyes as best she could.

"You need to stay awake for now," he told her, coming up with disinfectant and bandages and the lot.

"What if I have to go to the hospital? Does it look like anything other than what it is? They can't ask questions, we'll get put under psych evaluation or something."

"We'll cross that bridge if or when we get to it," he promised. "Just lean back a second." She did, and he got to work. She winced as he worked, but she was quiet. She still just couldn't believe that they were home, finally, after all of it. "There," he finally said. "How's that?" he asked, and she touched the bandage.

"If it wasn't for this, I might have thought it was all some kind of weird, shared dream," she breathed, pulling her shirt down. "Thanks. How's your ankle? Give it to me, I'll wrap it up or tape it up or something."

"It's fine, I'll just…"

"Hey, you fixed me, now it's your turn, so just shut up and let me do it," she cut in, and he smirked.

"Fine, if you're going to put it like that," he relented. She still hurt, but she could deal with it if she was careful. He presented her his ankle and she gasped when she pulled his shoe and sock off.

"How have you been walking on that all this time?"

"The best I could? What else was I supposed to do?" She did what she could for his ankle before going behind him and pulling his shirt up to see his back. "Woah, hey…" he hadn't expected it, but then her hand was on his back and he froze.

"Looks a little bruised, but maybe I'm just seeing it that way. How bad is it?"

"Nothing a good bath, and sleep won't help. Maybe a pill or two off my mom."

"No, you're coming over to my house tonight," she shook her head.

"I am?"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight, not like this."

"You haven't had enough of me?" he joked. "With everything we did today it's like two days we've been together or something."

"I don't think I can be alone," she admitted, and the joke went away.

"Right, sure, I'll be there," he touched her arm and she let out a breath. "That actually happened, didn't it?" he had to say it.

"It did, we've got the marks to show it," she looked down at her side. "What do you think happened?"

"I have no clue. Maybe we'll never know."

"What if it happens again?"

"It won't. And if it does, well… we'll get through it," he vowed. "Maybe it's telling us to watch more TV. That's new," he squinted, and she chuckled.

"And what about… well…"

"Us?" he guessed, and she looked like she was about to blush.

"We did do quite a bit of kissing in the end. Not that I'm complaining," she assured him.

"Well… what if it kept happening?" he started cautiously. "Not the TV jumping, I mean, what if the kissing kept happening? You and me… I know we tried it before and it didn't work, but it was a long time ago, we were different people."

"We were a lot of different people today, too," was all she could say yet.

"But now we're ourselves again, and if I'm me, and you're you, then I would like to be with you… kind of a lot."

"You would?" she stared up at him.

"I already knew you were kind of leagues above awesome, but everything we did today, everything you did…"

"I was scared out of my mind half the time," she shook her head.

"With good reason," he defended her to herself. "But what about everything else? You were bordering on heroic a couple of times. And you saved me, too," he nodded, and she smiled. "We can give it a try, can't we?" She took a breath, staring at him. He hadn't seen this coming, him opening to her this way. They'd been running around non-stop for so long, his head was only just settling.

"I think we owe it to ourselves to do more than try," she finally beamed, and he was smiling, too. Standing before her, he laid his hands on either side of her face, leaning in to kiss her. "Puck?"

"Yeah?"

"We're still in here, you do remember the part where we broke in, right?" He pulled back to look at her.

"Oh… right. We better go."

THE END


End file.
